Romans 9:13

As the scripture says. [Malachi 1:2 Septuagint.] The Expositor's Greek Testament says: "Yet it would not be right to say that Paul is here considering merely the parts assigned by God to nations in the drama of providence; He is obviously thinking of Jacob and Esau as individuals, whose own relation to God's promise and inheritance (involving no doubt that of their posterity [descendants]) was determined by God before they were born or had done either good or ill. On the other hand, it would not be right to say that Paul here refers the eternal salvation or perdition [condemnation] of individuals to an absolute decree of God which has no relation to what they are or do, but rests simply on His inscrutable will."